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The Phaedo Pirate Is Back On The High Seas

The 66ft carbon catamaran, Phaedo, followed by so many over the past few years with it's distinctive Lamborghini orange hulls, is now firmly back in the water in Newport Beach, California.

In July 2013, Phaedo was dismasted a few days into the Transpac race to Hawaii. This was after blitzing various personal bests including covering 427 nautical miles in 24 hours. Owner Lloyd Thornburg was faced with many options for his yacht when he and his crew, minus the mast, limped back to California just over a year ago. He took his time. Invested his time into researching the innovations needed to optimise a boat of this type especially optimising upwind performance.

So underneath the luminous new "more orange than orange” paint job is a boat that has been studied and reengineered from stem to stern. The weight, balance, and performance of the boat were all reanalysed.

Weight was redistributed throughout the boat and all internal drawers and cupboards, for example, were replaced with newer versions of all carbon. Excess weight was removed in all areas including the removal of the solar panels to create a now streamlined coach roof.

The lost rig was replaced with a new custom wing mast from Southern Spars. Not only is the new rig taller but the wing section now gives better flow attachment to the mainsail. The sail inventory from North Sails now includes the latest 3di technology and has been balanced for fingertip control. A jib topper for light air performance has been added to the sail wardrobe.

The new rudders and boards were designed and engineered by McCollough yachts. The boat now has the righting moment of Wild Oats and the sail area of a Volvo 70.